


ten things i know about zuko (and one i don’t)

by artanogon



Series: ten things, one thing [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Implied Sexual Content, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, POV First Person, hell even the author doesn’t know, it’s gay, it’s pining, technically, though really it’s just sokka being horny, we haven’t seen zuko’s POV yet so we don’t really know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24612958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artanogon/pseuds/artanogon
Summary: “I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.”—The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller(Sokka pines desperately for Zuko, in a rather vaguely worded and poetic way.)
Relationships: Mai/Zuko (background), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: ten things, one thing [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1779418
Comments: 16
Kudos: 150





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> so guess who binge-watched the entirety of atla in less than a week and fell into the zukka void? this bitch, that’s who

He loves a girl with porcelain skin and sleek black hair. She is sharp and dangerous, with dark eyes; she stands calm and unflinching in the face of danger. He looks at her with the reverence of a worshipper, and I wish I too was made of cold, unfeeling adamant.


	2. Two

He is a paradox within a paradox. Fire has hurt him, harmed him, and he is afraid of it— and yet he loves it. He likes the water for his baths boiling. I watch him duck his face under it and wonder how his fear does not eat him alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i may update this three times a day. heaven knows i have the time


	3. Three

He’s beautiful, so much more beautiful than he knows. He tilts his head back when he practises his bending, his skin gleaming gold with sweat under the heat of the sun. I watch his bared throat, unmarked and virgin, the curve of muscles in his arms, and wish I could know the taste of his skin on my tongue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sokka, you’re gay. you’re in love with him. please. the pining is killing me and it’s my own damn fic


	4. Four

He cries when he harms living creatures. I watched him shoot down an animal when we went hunting for food, and collapse at its side with tears on his face. He hates blood and he will not say why. I hold him anyways, showing him my love in the only way I can. Perhaps some day he will tell me.


	5. Five

His throne and honour weigh heavy on his head, even though he’s left them behind. One day, he will have to go back and rule. I dread that the crown will crush him until there is nothing left.


	6. Six

He has no idea how much he means to me; what I would do for him. I catch his hand when he’s falling, and he catches mine. I would give my life to save him. He doesn’t know it.


	7. Seven

His scar hurts him in a way that the balm Katara gives him can’t heal. Some nights he holds his face and crumples. He takes his hand away, and the scar burns red-hot even when he’s shrouded in shadows. When his injury drags whimpers from him, I sit beside him near the campfire and touch his face as gently as I can. It’s not much, but I soothe his pain.


	8. Eight

He misses his father. He stands in the square and looks up at a magnificent statue of a warlord, a statue that I swear we will one day tear down. He wanders the woods on the days of Fire Nation festivals when the firelord makes announcements, staring up at the unyielding grey sky like he could will lightning from it. He wants a tyrant gone, just like the rest of us, but he doesn’t want to lose his father too. Despite all that’s happened, despite _everything_ , he loves Ozai. I can’t pretend to understand it. I will just be there if he needs me.


	9. Nine

He sees himself in Aang. The recklessness, the drive, honour and debts to be repaid. He sits beside me while Aang practises, and a rare smile (though they are becoming more common now, he feels safe around us, and I’m glad of it) touches his mouth. He tells me he has found a brother that he didn’t know he needed. My heart nearly bursts.


	10. Ten

He truly, deeply loves his people. He doesn’t show it well, he’s never good with emotions, but he watches children run in the streets with something like pride. Some day, he will be a great leader. A better firelord than his predecessors have ever been. I touch his shoulder as we watch the city below us. 

“Thank you, Sokka,” he says to me. 

I don’t ask him what for. I think I know.


	11. What I Don’t Know

When he finds out what I hide from him, will he still want me? Will he take me in his hands and kiss my lips, as if he loves me too? Or will he turn away from me, and leave me aching and wanting for another thing I will never have?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, that’s that for sokka’s pov! zuko’s should follow shortly.


End file.
